


in broken bones (i feel at home)

by thewomanofwonder



Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Fluff, Grief/Mourning, Huddling For Warmth, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Injury Recovery, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rescue Missions, Sharing a Bed, also fuck tammy all my homies hate tammy, christmas in hope county yeet, enemies to friends but make it faith and peaches, im dragging this out, im fixing the ending because fuck joseph seed, it really stresses joey out, it will definitely be implied, no beta we die like men, rook has a habit of getting herself into trouble, this is a bite or get bit county, will there be smut? undecided yet, winter is absolutely coming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:34:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29837490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewomanofwonder/pseuds/thewomanofwonder
Summary: “Do you love her? Deputy Hudson?” Faith had whispered into the night air as they lied in a sea of white flowers together. Sam was still for so long that Faith worried she had let the deputy overdose on accident. They had been there longer than Faith was usually comfortable with.“Yeah. She doesn’t love me the same, though.” Faith rolled onto her side and looked at Sam in confusion.“What makes you so sure?”
Relationships: Deputy | Judge & Mary May Fairgrave, Female Deputy | Judge & Faith Seed, Female Deputy | Judge/Joey Hudson, Joey Hudson/Original Female Character(s), Kim Rye/Nick Rye, Original Male Character(s)/Mary May Fairgrave, Sharky Boshaw & Female Deputy | Judge
Comments: 7
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> just a heads up the large sections of italics are flashbacks. there wont be a shit ton of flashbacks in the fic but since it starts out well into the cult stuff some establishing moments felt important. so yeah. please leaves a comment and/or kudos if you enjoy! a bitch appreciates me (its me im the bitch)

Sam was a private person. She didn’t talk about her feelings or what she was thinking about. She didn’t tell people about her childhood or life before Hope County. She didn’t wear anything that left her scars visible to people around her. She wasn’t mean or stoic. In fact, most people around Hope County would probably have described her as charming and compassionate. She just didn’t like letting people in. It was why she hit it off so well with Jess and Grace. They just understood each other. She was just as close with Sharky and Nick; it just took a little longer for her to get used to them. Starting at the Sheriff’s Department had been the opposite situation.

Her first month in the county was mostly spent recovering from injuries that had her honorably discharged from the Marines. She hadn’t even meant to become a deputy at the Hope County Sheriff’s Department. Her mom had just been worried about the lack of time Sam was getting out of the house and had cashed in a favor Sheriff Whitehorse owed her. Whitehorse took an immediate shine to her because of her proactiveness, special skill set, and discipline. Nancy appreciated how neat her paperwork was and that she learned how Nancy took her coffee and would deliver it to her desk in the morning right before she clocked in. Pratt liked her sense of humor and that she was willing to get up to mischief with him in ways Hudson wouldn’t. Hudson was the one that was difficult, though. Sam normally thrived with people like Hudson, but Sam was filling the space left behind by Danny months beforehand. After ten minutes of trying to converse with her new partner, Sam gave up and resigned herself to the fact Hudson didn’t want to be her friend.

Something had changed about two weeks after Sam had started working alongside Hudson, though. The rumor around the county was everything from Whitehorse locking them in a room together and telling them they couldn’t leave until they were friends to the two of them having hate sex in the women’s locker room at the Sheriff’s Department. The only three people in the county who knew the truth were Sam, Joey, and, because of a moment of weakness, Faith Seed.

_“Do you love her? Deputy Hudson?” Faith had whispered into the night air as they lied in a sea of white flowers together. Sam was still for so long that Faith worried she had let the deputy overdose on accident. They had been there longer than Faith was usually comfortable with._

_“Yeah. She doesn’t love me the same, though.” Faith rolled onto her side and looked at Sam in confusion._

_“What makes you so sure?”_

_Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. A feeling.” The deputy softly whistled ‘Help Me, Faith’ for a moment. She stopped just before the last chorus, leaving a melody, a prophecy, and a tragedy hanging in the air between them all at once. “She didn’t like me at first. I actually thought she hated me at one point… But I didn’t go into work one day. It was just a bad day. Didn’t sleep much and when I did it was plagued by nightmares, my knee hurt, and I just… I wasn’t all there. My mom once said when I zoned out it was like watching me go back overseas without even moving. I guess she told Whitehorse because he sent Joey to check in on me when her shift was over. My mom let her in before leaving for work. I didn’t have a shirt on. Just a sports bra and some sweatpants. She knocked on my bedroom door, and I told her to come in because I thought it was just my mom telling me she was heading out.”_

_Sam sat up and removed the dark brown leather jacket she always wore. She pulled her Rye & Sons Aviation t-shirt off and exhaled like she had been holding her breath from the moment she met Faith. More than a dozen scars littered her back and the right side of her torso, a galaxy in their own right. Sam kept her back to Faith and stared straight ahead_

_“Shrapnel from an IED. I was one of the lucky ones.” She looked back up at the stars. “She apologized over and over. I told her it was okay. I don’t normally let people see them. They thank me for my service or cry or, God, ask for the fucking story. Joey was different, though.” Sam laughed lightly to herself, falling backwards into the spot she had occupied before. “I put on a shirt and asked her if she wanted a beer. Much to my surprise, she said yes. So, we had a beer on my couch and she told me about her partner Danny. How he basically died in her arms. I think maybe she felt obligated to share something personal. Quid pro quo or whatever. I told her about the IED. I don’t even know where I got the courage to ask her on a date at work the next day”_

_“You run straight into gunfire regularly, and you don’t know where you got the courage to ask Deputy Hudson on a date?”_

_“It’s different. Getting shot is easy. Risking having all of those feelings, that you aren’t meant to have something like that, that you don’t deserve it, confirmed?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “That’s terrifying.”_

_The implication that the deputy didn’t feel deserving of being loved wasn’t lost on Faith. Any other day she would have pushed for more details, urged a Leap of Faith, but Sam’s eyes were foggy and pained and chills ran along her arms. There was a chance she wouldn’t even remember telling the Herald all that she had. Faith wanted to please Joseph, but she couldn’t bring herself to take advantage of the deputy’s vulnerability. She stood, dusted the dirt and grass off her dress, and stuck a hand out to the taller woman._

_“Thank you for coming to the bliss, Samantha, but your friends are probably worried about you. I think it’s time to go home.”_

Sam woke up tied to a chair. Again. It was becoming a pretty common thing for her up north. It wasn’t exactly what she was expecting when John radioed her to tell her he was sending his men for her immediately after she blew up the last of his convoys. She had seen (and taken over) his ranch. She could admit he had pretty good taste in decor. The room she was in made her rethink that, though. An office chair, dark red lights, a low quality workbench, a body hanging from the ceiling wrapped in duct tape or some other shit... He couldn’t even spare his victims some privacy by having them in - holy shit.

“Hudson!” Sam jerked forward, trying to move her chair across the floor towards the woman. Joey shook her head violently and tried to scream behind the tape over her mouth. Sam’s chair was yanked back by John Seed as he entered the room whistling to himself. He sat a rusty toolbox on the workbench, dusted the surface off, and started pulling various knives and other weird little torture instruments out of the box. He stopped what he was doing, including the whistling, and turned to look at Sam with his usual creepy smile.

“My parents… were the first ones to teach me about ‘The Power of Yes.’”

Sam groaned and dropped her head. “Please do not fucking give me a monologue. I am tired. I am in pain. I am pretty sure blood is dripping into my boot from where your men shot me. And I just do not fucking care.”

John dropped his friendly facade instantly and closed the gap between him and Sam in three steps. He reached over to the cart beside her and held up a tattoo gun. The moment it whirred to life Joey started fighting the zip ties around her hands and feet. John sat it back down and leaned in far too close to Sam for his own good. He grabbed the flannel she was wearing and ripped it open, sending a few buttons flying across the floor.

“I know you are… apprehensive… of this process, Deputy,” he said as he went about disinfecting the skin of Sam’s collarbone. “But it is because you do not understand it. Owning your sin is difficult. To etch it onto your flesh and carry its burden. And then, when you have endured, when you truly begin to atone. To cut it out like a cancer and display it for all to see… My God, that takes courage.” He waltzed back over to his workbench and leaned against it. “I’m going to teach you courage.” He picked up a knife off the bench, and across the room Joey flinched. John seemed to notice it and smirked. “Teach you how to say yes, so you can confront your weaknesses.” 

Sam rolled her eyes, and John approached her again. “So you can confront your sins,” he yelled. “You will swim across an ocean of pain and you will emerge… free. For only then can you truly begin to atone.” He made his way back to the workbench once more, leaving Sam fuming in her chair.

“I’m going to kill you.”

John turned to her, eyes narrowed and lips in a thin line, as if he didn’t know how to respond to that. Joey’s eyes widened and she shook her head at Sam again. 

“I would watch what I say next if I were you, Deputy,” John warned. 

Sam felt like she was about to start shaking with the force of her rage. In the back of her head she could hear an eerily familiar tune, a whisper in her ear from the Whitetail Mountains. John was weak and pathetic and preyed on people’s insecurities, and there was no place for the weak. She clenched and unclenched her fists. She could do it. Right there. She could kill him. Only her. 

“I am giving you a chance to let Hudson and I go before you sentence yourself to death.”

There was a flicker of fear in his eyes, but he forced a smile and walked towards Hudson. The woman started shaking and crying, and Sam found herself straining the zip ties at her wrists, pushing them to their limits. John yanked the tape off of Joey’s mouth and raised an eyebrow at Sam.

“Deputy Hudson, it seems our friend here doesn’t quite understand who is in charge.” He reached up to touch her face but stalled when Sam jerked violently in her chair. His grin widened. “See, Deputy, we all have our weaknesses. We all have our sin. Your little girlfriend is clearly a weakness for you, but what’s your sin? Lust? Pride? I know hers already. Maybe I should let her atone first to show you an example.”

“Leave her alone,” Sam snarled.

“Someone has to go first. Someone has to choose.” The fear on Joey’s face was more than enough to make Sam give in.

“Me.” 

John looked ecstatic. “Yes! Yes! You won’t regret this. I promise.” He tossed his knife onto the workbench and grabbed Joey’s chair. “Now, before we begin, I think it’s only proper that Deputy Hudson goes back to her room. Confessions are meant to be private after all.” He wheeled the chair over but stopped in front of Sam.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to Joey.

“Shh,” John said. “I’m not here to take your life… I’m here to give it to you.”

John was gone for a total of thirty seconds before Sam decided to move. Despite all her straining against them, the zip ties were still holding on just enough. Her only other idea for escape was to do something that she had learned in her special ops training: break the chair. The chair was too stable to throw her weight backwards and hope it would break, but there was no way it was strong enough to survive a fall down the stairs. She knew it would suck as she slowly scooted towards the metal staircase, but she had to get out and find Joey. She took a deep breath and sent herself over the edge of them. Just as she hoped, the fall was just what she needed to get free from the chair and zip ties. Her whole body ached from hitting the steps on her way down, but it was well worth it.

Going back up and trying to leave through that door was an awful fucking idea, but there was a pipe near her that she could fit through and hope it led somewhere. At the end of the pipe she dropped down a hole in the platform she was on to find another pipe with a room on the other side. She took out the peggies in it with no issue, grabbed an aluminum bat and one of their handguns, and continued on her merry way. At the end of the hall was a massive steel door that she opened to enter the next hall. Overhead, John Seed’s voice patronized her as he spoke of sins and burdens. She thought it was a recording at first, but when he said “I will help you, Deputy,” she knew that he was aware she had gotten out. She didn’t have much time.

She took out the first two men in the hall by putting a throwing knife through the jugular of one and taking her bat to the head of the other. She made it down the hall to a room with several cultists in it. She was in the middle of planning what order she could take them out when she heard Hudson’s muffled cries. She jerked around so fast she lost her footing and almost tripped.

“Save it for when you really have something to scream about,” John said.

Sam rounded the corner as the door pulled shut, locking her out. She threw her body against the door even though she knew it wouldn’t make any difference. She banged against the glass hoping it would break, but again, nothing. John stopped tightening the zip ties on Joey’s wrists and came to meet Sam at the window of the door. He looked pleased, like he had just solved the mystery of the century.

“I know your sin.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

He ignored her. “It drives your every thought. Every action… Your sin is wrath. So, I’ll indulge you. Become wrath. Let it fill your body and consume your soul because in the end… you’ll still be empty.”

“I’m going to destroy you,” Sam growled, throwing herself against the door once more. Joey was crying and hurting and scared and Sam couldn’t do anything about it.

“Oh, I’m counting on it, Wrath,” John said with a laugh. “And when you are done I will be here waiting for you.” He looked from Hudson to Rook, between the two deputies, two partners, with fake pity. “We both will.” 

He pressed a button on some remote in his hand and the room began to fill with bliss. Sam had no chance but to run. She would be no use to Joey if she were dead. Everything in her said to turn back. To find a way to pry the door open. To break every bone in John’s body and take Joey to safety. She had no idea how he found out about her and Joey. The only people who knew about them were Pratt, Sharky, the Ryes, and… Faith. _I’m so fucking stupid,_ she thought. She would have to kick herself over it later, though. She ran up the staircase, taking out peggies and angels with her handgun until she found an assault rifle.

“Let her feast on her sin! Let her choke on it!” John yelled over the bunker intercom system. “Bathe in your sin so that you may see how futile your efforts are.” Sam paused halfway up the stairs, the desire to go back still in the front of her mind. “Last chance to leave, Deputy. The bunker doors are closing!” She had to go.

The speakers on the outside of the bunker allowed him to continue taunting her once she slipped through the door, but she refused to leave without making him pay for it in the blood of his men first.

“Your sin consumes you. Blinds you to all the harm that you have caused. Have you ever once thought twice about taking a human life?” She ignored him, firing bullet after bullet into the cultists and angels as they charged her. “Drive the sinner from this place! Let them run! Let them hide! Because God will guide us to them!”

“There’s nothing more you can do here, Deputy. I’ll come for you when you’re good and ready,” John taunted when it became clear she had no interest in leaving. She didn’t budge. He was running out of men out there. She could finish them off. “Leave this place. Gorge yourself on wrath… Because if you don’t, if you stay here… I will bleed your little princess like a stuck pig.”

“Fuck,” Sam whispered to herself. “I’m sorry, Joey.” And she ran.

_“Watch your time.”_

_Sam hated the way Jacob Seed’s voice could linger in her mind like a ghost. Even when she was sore and tired and hurting he was still there pushing her to stand and fight. She had no idea where she really was. When she wasn’t running through his little Terminator obstacle course she was usually unconscious or so exhausted and in pain that she wished she was._

_She knew the room. Was in it every time she woke up. Ugly carpet, even uglier wallpaper, bodies here and there on the ground, the smell of blood stiff in the air, a projector showing wolves tearing other animals apart the only source of light in the room, a wooden chair holding her up… It was easily her second least favorite place in Hope County. The first, of course, being wherever John Seed was at the given moment. She wondered what he was up to for a brief moment before a familiar song echoed around the room._

_Her head hurt and her bones ached. She wanted to lie down, but it was like she was seeing red every time the song played. She had to go. She had to fight. She had to kill. She had to cull the herd. She couldn’t place why she needed to do it so bad, but she didn’t have time to question it. She had less than a minute to prove her strength._

_She blew through everyone around her like they were nothing more than targets at a shooting range._

_“Yes, good,” Jacob praised as four bodies in a row went down with one shot._

_No. Not good. Not good. Sam shook her head, trying to stop herself. Not good. She was supposed to protect the people in Hope County. She picked up the shotgun. The Whitetails were her allies, her friends. She picked up the rifle. She couldn’t understand why she kept going, kept shooting, kept culling. She didn’t want to do it. It wasn’t good._

_“You’re no hero!” She snapped the neck of the man who said it and heard Jacob’s praise again. Not good. She didn’t mean to. She didn’t want to. He was right. She was no hero. She was a monster. She became Wrath and Wrath became her._

_“You are a weapon,” Jacob reminded her. She pulled the trigger over and over and over until everything faded to black once again._

_It wasn’t the song that woke her up the next time; it was a sharp pain in her back. Her eyes shot open, and she wasn’t in the same room as before. She was still tied to a chair, but she was sitting backwards in it, hunched over the back of the chair, in just her jeans, boots, and sports bra._

_“I’m sorry.” She turned her head to look behind her. Pratt was sitting there shaking and holding a bloodied knife in his hand._

_“Nice to see you awake, Deputy,” Jacob said he entered the room. “You won’t be here much longer. We’ll knock you out and drop you off somewhere as soon as Peaches finishes up his little assignment.”_

_“What are you doing to me?” Sam growled._

_“Right now? Giving you some much earned recognition for your outstanding work. In general? Training you.”_

_“I won’t fight for you. I won’t hurt my friends.”_

_Jacob laughed. “You already have, kid. If we’re keeping count,” he leaned over to look at her back where Pratt’s shaky hands were still dragging the knife along the skin. “I would say you’ve hurt at least forty-seven of those friends of yours so far. Don't worry though, you'll have a chance to add to that total.” He squatted in front of her, meeting her tired and angry eyes. He actually looked like he pitied her a little bit. “You want my advice, Dep? You know what you could do to protect people? Just disappear.”_

She had almost done it. Disappearing would have saved so many people from suffering. The tally marks carved into her back burned at the thought alone. She had gone into the woods, hoping to fade from everyone’s minds. Hoping they would all just assume she had died. It would have been better off that way. Some hunter she passed must have told one of her friends, though. She had been in the woods alone for four days when Mary May called out to her over her radio late in the night and whispered a plea that Sam couldn’t bring herself to ignore.

_“Come home, Deputy.”_

Dutch tightened the wrapping around her ankle, pulling Sam out of her own memories. He leaned back on his stool with a heavy sigh. Sam held her foot out and rolled her ankle slowly to test for any pain. A sprained ankle wouldn’t really be a helpful addition to her day to day life while fighting a cult, but that hadn’t been something to cross her mind when she jumped from that sharp drop while being chased by a group of peggies. It wasn’t her fault their truck got blown up; they were the ones who parked right next to the only silo still standing in Holland Valley. They had to have known it was a possibility she would show up with a rocket launcher.

“You’re lucky that isn’t broken,” Dutch said.

Sam laughed humorlessly. “I’m lucky a lot of things aren’t broken at this point.”

Bones were the obvious thing, but Sam was more concerned with the trust and relationships she could have damaged. Every time she called someone to join in her on her daily adventure she risked their life. If something happened to one of them, would the others ever trust her again? Would she ever trust herself? She already didn’t know if she could with how in her head Jacob had gotten. And just as bad were John and Faith. John was always there, like a devil on her shoulder, egging her on. 

Faith, though… Faith felt safe. Gentle. Kind. Trustworthy. Sam didn’t buy into all of the cult’s bullshit, but she did feel like there was something to be said for ‘the bliss will set you free.’ Being vulnerable wasn’t so scary in the bliss. Sam had let Faith in because they could both see how much the other was hurting and scared and lost all the time. They wanted to save each other. It was why Sam wandered into the bliss fields by herself and would talk to Faith over their radios. It was why Faith would go out into the open and would hum or sing to fill the silence when Sam was hurting most. It was why Faith was allowed to call her Samantha and Sam was allowed to call her Rachel. The mutual trust was what had Sam so confused about the betrayal.

“Dutch, I think I really fucked up,” Sam whispered. He looked up, concern written on his face.

“What happened, Dep?”

“I told Faith about Hudson and I.”

Dutch seemed confused. “What about you and Hudson?” 

“We’re… girlfriends. I guess.” Dutch arched an eyebrow and Sam huffed in frustration. “We are. We made it official and whatever before… everything. I just… I don’t know. Girlfriends is a weird word when you’re twenty seven years old. We weren’t a secret or anything. I mean, we had been together for a little more than four months when we went to arrest Joseph. We’re both just really private people, so only a couple people knew. With everything going on, I thought it was kind of a blessing, but when I was in John’s bunker he knew. He called her my girlfriend.”

“So who told him?”

“Faith.” Dutch didn’t bother hiding his surprise. “I don’t know what even led to me telling her, but she’s the only one I can think of who would have told him. What if he uses that to hurt her?”

“Dep, I have so much to say to you about spending time with Faith Seed, but first things first, what John Seed does is not your fault, alright? And-”

Maybe it was John Seed’s drama-filled antics, maybe it was Sam’s horrible luck. It didn’t really matter what it was, but the conversation was cut short by a sharp crackle from Sam’s radio and then John Seed’s annoying fucking voice letting her know that he had taken note of all she had done. Of all the blown up silos and liberated outposts and freed civilians.

“Your actions have consequences, Deputy. I’ve gathered all your friends here in Fall’s End to atone for your sins. You’re welcome to join us; after all if it weren’t for you they wouldn’t be in this predicament… This is your last chance to say ‘yes,’ Deputy. Don’t be late.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im updating this at 4:30 am bc i have nothing better to do and am not tired. but that means little proofreading was done so ya win some ya lose some. enjoy.

John Seed had a flair for the dramatics, and frankly, Sam was fucking sick of it. He had crows nailed around the doors of the church, as if the bells and flower petals and red carpet were not enough. If he was going to go that far he might as well have gotten an organ player and bought her a white dress. Go big or go home, she thought as she walked up the steps. She pushed the doors open, dreading whatever she might walk in on, and was immediately met with the butt of a rifle to her head.

When she woke up, a rifle was pointed directly in her face, and her chest fucking hurt. She moved her head, searching for the source of the pain, and shoved an arm out when she found John Seed holding her down and tattooing her. He froze as she gripped his arm and glared down at her.

“Hold still. It’s supposed to say ‘Wrath’ not… ‘wrat.” Sam groaned in pain and dropped her arm as he applied more force. “Sin must be exposed so that it may be absolved. If we hide our sin, we hide ourselves… You will not hide any longer. Your true self will spill out on this floor for all to see.” He stood up and walked to the center of the church, allowing Sam to see Jerome, Mary May, and Nick all standing at the front with John’s men holding them at gunpoint. John seemed to admire his work for a moment as he stared at Sam. “Perfect.” He chuckled to himself. “If Mohammed won’t come to the mountain, then bring the mountain to Mohammed. Let’s begin!” He said as he whipped around, taking a Book of Joseph from one of the peggies and moving to where the other three resistance members were. Two of the cultists dragged Sam to her feet and over to join them all. She forced herself not to cringe at the word “GREED” tattooed on Nick’s chest. 

“I’m sorry,” Mary May whispered to her before being shoved to face John. The Herald slapped Jerome’s bible from his hands and replaced it with his Book of Joseph.

“I thought a friendly face might make your Atonement easier,” he said, moving Jerome to stand in front of Nick. “Our devoted…” He waited for Jerome to repeat the words, but the man didn’t budge. “We are gathered here to bear witness…” He sighed and stepped back when Jerome stayed silent. The man beside him hit Jerome with his handgun, sending him to the church floor. 

“You son of a bitch!” Mary May yelled while lurching forward at John. It earned her an equally painful hit, but it also gave Jerome a distraction. Sam watched as he left the Book of Joseph on the floor and grabbed his bible as he stood. 

John laughed, not even noticing the swap that happened right under his nose. “Let’s try that again.” He grabbed the back of Jerome’s neck and guided him back towards Nick roughly. “Our devoted, we are gathered here to bear witness… to those willing to atone for their sins.” Jerome repeated each line after him dutifully.

“Will you, Nick Rye, place your-”

“Nah, fuck that,” Nick snapped. “I ain’t ever giving in to that psychopath.” 

Two cultists held Nick back as John moved to stand in front of him. “Ah, there it is. ‘Greed.’ Always thinking of yourself.” 

Nick spit in his face, and Sam could see the way John’s eyes showed the immediate shift in him. He had started the whole event smug and feeling powerful, but in just moments he had become irritated and angry with all of them. He pulled Nick close to him, whispering something in his ear that made the color drain from his face. When he pulled away, the smug look was back.

“Nick?” John asked. The pilot looked at Sam and Mary May apologetically.

“Yes. Yes, I will atone.” 

The cultists holding him pulled him to the floor as John took a knife from another and moved to the ground with them. Sam jerked violently against the hold of the cultist that had her as Nick screamed in pain.

_”Please take care of him.”_

John stood up, raising a strip of Nick’s flesh in the air triumphantly before turning and stapling it to the wall of the church. “That is ‘the Power of Yes!’ The power to take away your sins… The power to set you free.” Sam felt like she was going to be sick seeing Nick on the ground in a pool of his own blood. 

John washed the blood off his hands in a bowl of water and made his way back to Sam. “Will you, Deputy, place your hand upon The Word of Joseph, and renounce your sins and admit your transgressions?”

Jerome repeated after him, and then he stepped closer. “Say yes.” John smiled behind him.

“It’s just one word.”

It was always just one word. Yes. Wrath. Bliss. Deputy. Rook. Words and names ruined by the cult and all the harm they had caused. Sam had reached a point where she barely even knew her own name. She looked in the mirror and saw ‘Samantha,’ a daughter who couldn’t spare her own mother from the vengeance of John Seed, the last thread holding a siren from slipping into a place too far to be followed. She saw ‘Deputy’ and ‘Dep,’ a symbol of resistance and hope, an unbreakable hero to the people of Hope County. She saw ‘Rook,’ a friend and partner to people she loved and let down, a woman who doomed another just by loving her. And as she stood before John Seed, she knew that the word, the name, carved into her chest, would join the list forever. She would see ‘Wrath,’ a predator hunting its prey one minute and prey lashing out from its corner the next, a monster reduced to rage and ruin. The name didn’t matter at the end of the day. She was Samantha and the Deputy and Rook and Wrath all wrapped into one, and she was the one who would kill John Seed. Who would make him pay. Only her.

_Only you._

“Yes.” And she flipped open the bible to grab the gun inside.

_Sam shifted away from the touch just out of habit. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the friends and allies she was making around the county. She was just still getting used to people touching her without the intent to harm her. The level of vulnerability required for it most of the time was also holding her back._

_“Sit still,” Kim chided, pulling her leg back to the place it had been resting before._

_“Sorry.” Sam looked anywhere but at Kim. The pictures hanging on the wall, the magnets on the fridge, the tree leaves moving in the wind outside. Anything but her. She inhaled sharply when the woman poured alcohol on the long cut running down her calf._

_“Shh. You’re alright.” Sam’s face reddened._

_“Aw, Dep’s blushing!” Nick commented from his chair where he was having a beer. “What’s the matter? Haven’t been touched by a woman in a while?”_

_“Nicholas!” Kim snapped._

_Sam buried her face in her hands. “Oh my God.”_

_“Come on, Kim! It’s just a joke,” Nick said while laughing._

_“I think if a group of peggies opened fire on me right now it would be a mercy killing.” Sam seriously felt like dying of embarrassment was actually a possibility. Kim cut off Nick’s laughter with a light slap upside the head._

_“Ow, Jesus woman.” Nick rubbed at the back of his head. Kim gave Sam an apologetic look as she returned to cleaning the cut._

_“Ignore him.”_

_“No, he’s fine. It was a funny joke I just-” Nope. Sam stopped herself before she said anything regarding her feelings. She did not want to have any of those conversations ever. It was too late, though. Kim and Nick were both looking at her questioningly._

_“Just what?” Kim asked. Sam almost shuddered under the look. It was the same one her own mom used to give her whenever she was obviously holding something back. Sam knew Kim wouldn’t back down easily, and it wasn’t like Nick would have her back against his pregnant wife._

_“I’m just not used to… that.” Kim raised any eyebrow, silently prompting her to elaborate. Sam sighed. “I’m not used to people being… I don’t know. Gentle? Reassuring? That’s not like… something people do for me. I’m not supposed to need that.”_

_Kim’s gaze softened. Sam was younger than both of them by a year or two, but somehow it still felt to her and Nick like the woman had lived much longer than they had. “Dep, you’re allowed to need and want for people to be gentle and reassuring towards you. Especially people who love you.”_

_“Yeah, the county may see you as a hero, but you’re still only human, Bud,” Nick added._

_“It’s not that simple. I mean, Nick, you’ve seen how the people at those outposts look at me and talk to me. They see me as some indestructible savior. I can’t just stop being that… Not when it brings them so much hope.”_

_Sam looked back out the window. Just down the road was Fall’s End, a rose of a town in the Garden of Eden, small but beautiful, and every hope and dream and wish within it was just another thorn sticking into her skin and hurting. If she had just walked the other way, wished another war farewell, it would have wilted under John and Joseph’s boots, but she didn’t. One day, she was sure, the snake in the garden would find her and drag its scales against her nightmares, slither between the vines and flowers, waiting for its moment, and it would kill her._

_“Then be their savior,” Kim said. “Be their indestructible savior at all of those outposts and as you travel around the county taking care of everyone. But when you’re around us… when you come home… Just be Sam. Be Sam, and let us take care of you.”_

Sam was sure for a moment that Nick had done it. That he had fired the shot to kill John Seed. It was never that easy, though. John’s plane opened and he leapt out before opening his parachute. He was going to try and make a break for it back to his bunker. He was too much of a coward to stand and fight. Sam made sure her parachute was set, and she jumped from the plane she had taken, following the man to the ground.

He landed on the ground just moments before she did. Had he not been injured, he probably would have been able to escape her. Escape her Wrath. The second her feet hit the ground she was pulling out her handgun and heading after him through the woods. He didn’t get far. Sam barely even bothered aiming before firing two bullets into his leg. He hit the ground with a cry, and Sam couldn’t help the satisfaction as she closed in on him like an animal after its prey. He reached for his own rifle, but she kicked it away from him and pushed him over with her foot.

“So what? You’re gonna kill me?” He sputtered.

Sam shrugged. “I like to keep my promises.” She pulled the bolt pipe she’d gotten from Dutch’s bunker off her back.

“Go ahead, then, Wrath.” John laughed. Even as she brought the pipe down against his ribs he still laughed. “What would Deputy Hudson say if she could see you now?”

_Are you ready, Deputy Hudson?_

Sam narrowed her eyes and brought the pipe down on his side again.

_Go fuck yourself._

“She’s really- she’s really something,” John said between coughs.

_I know. Opening yourself? Exposing your darkest secrets can be… challenging. It can be scary, but this is a safe space. There is no judgement here. Do you wish for me to hear your confession?_

_Go. Fuck. Yourself._

“I don’t want to hear it.”

_That’s not the magic word._

“You don’t?” He said with a mix of laughter and coughing. “You don’t want to hear all about how she screamed? How she cried? How she begged for mercy? For help?”

_Do you wish for me to hear your confession?_

“Shut up.” Sam could feel her rage boiling beneath her skin. John was clearly trying to get a rise out of her, and she didn’t want to give him what he wanted, but, God, were his tactics working.

_You just have to say yes._

“She begged for you. Cried out your name in her sleep. I wonder if she gave up hope. If she resigned herself to the fact that you had left her there to suffer for weeks and-”

Sam brought the bolt pipe down again and again until he had stopped laughing. The only sounds around the two of them was the whistling of the wind in the August air and John’s chest rattling with every breath he attempted to take. But still, Sam could hear the echo of Joey’s screams in her head. She could remember every single second of that awful fucking recording.

“What if-” He inhaled sharply, and Sam could tell from the sound how much it hurt him to do so. “What if Joseph’s right?”

“I don’t care,” she snarled.

“Everyone thinks he’s crazy… but he’s not.”

Sam reached down and yanked the bunker key from around his neck. He reached up in an attempt to grasp her arm, but he didn’t have the strength to hold on when she jerked it away from him. She squatted beside him and tilted her head to the side.

“Maybe he’s not,” she whispered. “Maybe he’s completely sane. Maybe he’s right. But guess what, John? It doesn’t matter. He takes people. He tortures people. He kills people. He destroys everything he gets near, and not even his own family is spared in the end. I mean, look at you. We both know you’re not getting away from this one. Joseph set you up to die for him.” She pulled her handgun back out of its holster and checked the clip. “You threatened and hurt my friends. You kidnapped and tortured my partner. You killed my mom.” She stood and pointed the gun at his chest. John was already struggling to breathe on the ground as blood filled his lungs. “You wanted Wrath; I’m here to deliver it.” She pulled the trigger, firing a single bullet into his body, and left him there to suffocate on his own decisions.

_“Deputy, it’s nice to see you.”_

_Sam whipped around, narrowing her eyes at the figure before her. She had been in the Henbane for all of an hour before she got a sudden and awful headache. She could have sworn she only blacked out for like a minute, but the light green fog and tall grass around her did not look like the Drubman Marina at all. She made the conscious choice to ignore the rabbit that she could have sworn had antlers hopping across the other woman’s feet._

_“Faith? Is it really you?”_

_The girl giggled like the question was just so amusing to her. “Of course it’s me, silly. Who else would it be?”_

_“My brain is scrambled like an egg right now, so I don’t really know what is and isn’t real. Thanks for that, by the way,” Sam deadpanned. “Prove it. How can I be sure it’s you?”_

_Faith closed the gap between them far faster than Sam was prepared for. She stumbled back a step in surprise, but Faith held onto her arms to steady her._

_“You can see me. You can hear me. You can feel me. I’m here, Deputy. I wouldn’t lie to you.”_

_“Sure.”_

_“I mean it. I have no reason to lie to you.”_

_Sam scoffed. “Aside from you and your crazy fuckin’ family wanting to kill me, of course.”_

_“I don’t want to kill you, Deputy.” Sam looked down in confusion at where Faith was drawing light circles on the palm of her hand. Where the hell had her gloves gone?_

_“Then what do you want from me?”_

_“I want you to listen.”_

_“I am listening.” Faith lifted her hands to Sam’s face and forced her to make eye contact._

_“No. I want you to truly listen.”_

_“Well, I’m right here,” Sam said with a shrug. “Say what you need to say.”_

_“I was hoping we could have a conversation.”_

_“About?”_

_Faith smiled. “Anything. What would you like to talk about, Deputy?”_

_“I want the Marshal back. I know you have him.”_

_“I can’t do that. The Father wants him to see. To understand. To walk the path.”_

_Sam pulled back from the shorter woman’s touch and appraised her carefully. She had already pieced together from her first few visits to the region that Faith was not, well, Faith. There had been many Faiths, and if Joseph felt it necessary, there would be many more. She wondered if the woman before her realized that she was expendable to him._

_“And what do you want?” She asked._

_“That doesn’t matter,” Faith responded quickly._

_“Sure it does.”_

_“Not to The Father.”_

_“Maybe it does to me,” Sam said. She saw something change in Faith’s expression; hidden just beneath a look of surprise faux hope became real. “Think about it for me, okay? I have to go home before everyone in Fall’s End starts to worry about me, but next time we see each other we can pick up where we left off.”_

_She honestly expected Faith to be more like her brothers and insist on keeping Sam hostage if she needed to. Faith let her go, though, trusting the deputy to keep her word and return to continue their conversation._

An entire team cleared Sam’s path into the bunker. Jerome led a team on the ground consisting of Sharky, Merle, and several other resistance fighters. Grace, Jess, and two sharpshooters covered the corners of the bunker to pick off anyone they could. Nick and Adelaide provided the air support. Mary May and Kim stayed back at Fall’s End to act as a point of communication for the resistance leaders in the Whitetails and in the Henbane to check in on the status of their attack. Sam didn’t even stop upon reaching the bunker. She just marched her way towards the door, taking out any peggies who dared to get between her and Hudson.

The cult tried to hold her off as she entered, but it was a futile effort. Killing John had reignited the efficient and unrelenting killer inside that she never fully let out beyond Jacob’s trials. She was a war machine, and every cultist who got in her path either changed directions or paid the ultimate price for not being smart enough to cut their losses and run. She made her way down each and every hall, following the trail of cultists that waited for her like checkpoints on a map leading to Hudson. She made her way through what looked like a security room, rifle at the ready, until she reached a stairwell leading down to a room with a warm yellow-orange light leaking out.

Her name was painted across the wall at the bottom of the staircase. She paused for a moment at the sight before heading down the metal steps. Behind her lied a sea of bodies leading all the way to the bunker door. Enough casualties that Joseph and his followers would be burying them for days. The part of herself she hated most was pleased with her work. She flipped the safety on her rifle, slung it over her back, and switched to her handgun after checking its ammo. She glanced at _Wrath_ in its red lettering beside her, and then she stepped in. 

The sight as Sam moved deeper into John’s torture chamber was nothing short of gruesome. Bodies hanging from the ceiling, two on the ground, none of them moving. John’s voice rang in her ears. _Your actions have consequences_. She shook her head. She was not responsible for what he did. A man hung before her by his feet. There was a rack of elk antlers in his chest and flowers at the root of them. _You believe you’re a force for good, but you’re not._ No. Sam shook her head again. This wasn’t her fault. She was just doing what she had to. Just as she was about to call out for Hudson, Jacob’s voice joined the mix. _You’re a weapon._ Sam stumbled over another body and felt the air disappearing from the room. She blinked, the scenery around flashing from the bunker to Afghanistan to the bliss to Jacob’s chair and back to the bunker. It wasn’t her fault. _I’ll indulge you._ She didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt. _Cull the herd._ She never wanted to hurt anyone. _You bring destruction,_ Faith’s voice added. She was sorry. _Become wrath. Only you. Walk the path._ It was her fault.

She whipped around and found herself facing more bodies. One on the wall, a skull of a bull covering their face, one on the ground, blood not yet dry around their head, and one in a chair, holding a portrait of her nightmares. She felt her knees going weak under her. Where was Joey? _Let it fill your body._ She looked back the way she came. What did he do with Joey? _Let it consume your soul._ What did she make him do to Joey? _You’ll still be empty._

She took a step back, and something collided with her, bringing her body to the ground roughly and knocking every bit of air from her lungs. Her eyes found the familiar brown ones of Deputy Joey Hudson, but the pair of hands holding her down were John’s and she was underwater and he wouldn’t let her up and the truck was sinking and bliss was stealing her senses and the Marshal was leaving her behind and she could not breathe. Her own hands grabbed Hudson’s on instinct, but there wasn’t much fight in them as the words of the Seed siblings echoed in her mind. The bodies on the floor were her fault. The bruises on Hudson were her fault. She was getting tired. So very tired. She tried to push back with what little fight she had left in her, but Hudson’s fist collided with her jaw and sent her back to the ground. The water was rising and she wanted to let it in. Let it take up all the space in her already aching chest. She wanted to let John hold her under until it was over. Her own thoughts turned against her. _It is my fault. I must atone._

“Rook?” _Say yes._ Sam could feel the tip of the knife against her throat. _Say yes. You know what you could do to save people? Just disappear. Say yes. I will set you free. Say yes. Your actions have consequences. Say yes. Become Wrath. Say yes._ Everything she had done, everything she had become... She wanted to forget. Yes. “It’s you.” _Only you._ The knife moved away from her and Sam almost cried out in desperation. Joey, so strong and determined and brave. She could have done it. Sam wouldn’t have blamed her for doing it. Some part of her wanted Joey to do it. She could still do it.

“Oh God, oh God. I didn’t think you’d come back.” _I will bleed your little princess like a stuck pig._ She didn’t think she’d come back. _There’s nowhere you can run._ Hudson didn’t think she would come back. _There is nothing to fear._ Joey didn’t think she would come back. _I wonder if she gave up hope. If she resigned herself to the fact that you had left her there to suffer._ She didn’t think Rook would- No, Deputy would- _Wrath_ \- No. _Say yes_. No. _Yes, Rook. Deputy. Only you, Rook. I’ll indulge you. Only Deputy. I’ll indulge Rook. Deputy. Wrath. Only you. I’ll indulge only you. Only Wrath. I’ll indulge only Wrath. Wrath. Wrath. Wrath._

“Sam?” Sam. That’s... yes. Sam. Her eyes focused just as Joey leaned over Sam to look at her face, eyes shining with concern. When did she move? Where was the knife? Why didn’t she- “Sam.” Joey’s voice was sharp and commanding in contrast to the soft hand that came to rest on her jaw. Sam. She was Sam. _Say yes._ She exhaled.

“Joey?” Joey. Sam. It was just them. 

_Come home, Deputy._

\---

Joey pulled Sam off the floor and into a tight hug. She inhaled, reminding herself of the familiar scent of coffee and pine that was just so distinctly Rook. She pulled back to look at Sam and take in every aspect of her partner. There was a bruise forming already along her jaw and a split lip to go with it. She was breathing weird, stopping herself from fully exhaling like it hurt to do so. There were way too many bullets in the kevlar over her chest for Joey to even begin thinking clearly about it, and she had blood all over her shirt and jeans and arms and- just everywhere. It was hard to tell how much of it was even hers.

“I killed him,” Sam whispered, green eyes desperate and pained. “I killed John.”

Joey released a breath that she had been holding since being pulled from their helicopter. “Good.”

Sam blinked several times and looked around them like she had forgotten where they were. “We need to go. There are other prisoners we need to free, and then we need to blow this place sky high.”

“Yeah,” Joey nodded. She stood and pulled Sam to her feet. “Let’s do it and get the fuck out of here.”

Their plan was about as scrappy as could get. Joey unlocking cells for Sam to free all of the prisoners and then lowering platforms in the fucking missile launch silo for Sam to climb up like it was a jungle gym. She watched on security cameras from around the bunker as Sam made her way to where the cult was storing all of their bliss and fuel tanks before making her own way out of the bunker. She had wanted to go after Sam to make sure she got out safe, too, but there was no way she would be able to find the other deputy before the place was entirely up in flames. She just had to run for it and hope for the best.

The whole scene once she was out of the bunker was even more chaotic than inside it. There was still some semblance of a firefight going on between peggies trying to escape and resistance members gunning them down. There was a trio of resistance helicopters overhead, including Adelaide Drubman’s. There were several resistance trucks and vans filling up quickly with people getting away from the blast zone. 

“Hey! Hey! Deputy Hudson!” Joey spun around to find the source of the voice calling out to her. Maybe thirty yards away Pastor Jerome, Jess Black, and Sharky Boshaw were in Sam’s crimson pickup truck, ready to get the hell out of there. She ran over to them and let Jess and Sharky pull her into the bed of the truck with them.

“Wait, wait! What about Rook?!” She shouted as the truck started to move for the road. 

Jerome looked at her through the rearview mirror. “Don’t worry, Deputy Hudson. Adelaide Drubman and a pair of our best people picked her up just a minute or two ago. They’re already headed back to Fall’s End.”

Sharky gave Joey a friendly and reassuring pat on the back. “Dep’s tough as hell. She’ll probably be two beers in by the time we get to the Spread Eagle.”

Joey nodded to show her appreciation for the attempt, but she knew she wouldn’t be rid of the nauseous feeling she had until she saw Sam for herself. She turned her head to look back just in time to watch parts of the bunker explode and the whole thing go up in flames.

“No more John Seed,” Jess said quietly.

Joey sighed in relief.

_No more John Seed._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its about the hurt. the comfort. the angst. the softness. and the building of a foundation for jealousy and even more angst. good luck

Jerome hadn’t even put Sam’s truck fully into park before Hudson was hopping out of the back and rushing into the Spread Eagle. Plenty of people tried to greet her as she entered, and Casey offered her a beer, but she couldn’t be bothered to give anything other than a simple greeting or a “no thanks.” At the foot of the steps leading up into Mary May’s apartment were the Ryes. Nick had his head buried in his hands while Kim rubbed his back. The woman looked up at Hudson  
and reached out to take her hand.

“We’re so glad you got out of that hell hole,” she said. “We were all so worried and missed you so much. Especially Dep.” She smiled softly when Hudson blushed. 

“Where is she?”

“Upstairs. But, Hudson, before you go up there-” Kim sighed. “She’s in a lot of pain, okay?”

“It’s not easy to see,” Nick added as he looked up. His face was as white as a sheet, and he looked like he felt sick. “I had to leave the room the second she started screaming.” Hudson felt her stomach drop. She took a deep breath and gave the couple a grateful nod before making her way up the staircase. She knocked twice on the door as she opened it.

Sam was lying across the couch, seemingly asleep and covered by a light grey blanket, while Mary May sat in the chair across from it. Mary May turned to see who had entered and stood to greet her with a hug when she saw it was Hudson.

Mary May nodded her head towards Sam when they pulled apart. “She’s been asking for you.”

“How is she?”

“One bullet managed to get her, a couple broken ribs, lots of bruising and minor cuts, a few burns, a bit of a raspy cough from the smoke and fire in there, and I think she mentioned she had a headache from all that bliss, so all things considered? We’re lucky this is all it was.” Mary May pointed to the first aid kit sitting on the coffee table. “I wanted to get her ribs wrapped up, move her to the guest room, and have her take some pain medication to help her rest, but she had no interest in cooperating after I pulled that bullet out of her and stitched up the wound. I felt awful doing it because she sounded like she was being tortured, but I didn’t have a choice. I have a feeling she’ll be more inclined to let you tape her up and get her to a bed though.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Hudson said with a hint of a smirk. Mary May patted her on the shoulder and headed down to the bar to give the two some privacy.

Sam stirred the moment Joey sat on the coffee table next to her, foggy eyes blinking quickly and a smile playing at the edge of her lips. “Hi.”

Joey laughed a little and reached out to run her fingers through Sam’s hair. “Hi Rook.” She took in the junior deputy’s appearance for a moment. She figured the blanket covered the majority of the visible damage, but there was still a bruise on her jaw and an even worse one on her shoulder, the split lip, and the deep furrow of her brow that always meant she was either confused or in pain. “How ya feelin’?”

“Uh, you probably want an honest answer, don’t you?”

“Yeah, dumbass,” Joey said with a playful roll of her eyes.

“I’m in pain.”

“I figured as much. How about we get you sitting up so I can wrap your ribs and help you move to a more comfortable place? Like… I don’t know… A bed?”

“No.”

“Rook-”

“It hurts to move,” Sam whispered, voice cracking and tears filling her eyes. “Don’t make me move… Please.”

“Shhh.” Joey moved to kneel on the floor next to the couch and folded her arms on the edge of the cushion by Sam’s head so they could be as close as possible. The sudden vulnerability was completely out of the ordinary for the rookie; it was scary to see. She wiped away a few stray tears from Sam’s face with her thumb and kept the other hand combing through her hair. “I know it hurts, but it’s just going to get worse unless we do something. I promise I will be as gentle as I can.”

Sam tilted her head up and to the side, nose barely brushing along Joey’s jawline as she did. She made a sound as close to a sigh as she could get without exhaling a painful amount. “Okay,” she whispered.

Hudson controlled her expression to avoid showing just how relieved she was. Sam was nothing short of stubborn, and she hated receiving help of any kind or being vulnerable. It would be a lie if Joey had said she wasn’t worried Sam would fight her every step of the way. The fact she didn’t was just a testament to how tired and hurt she really was.

Sam started moving before Joey was prepared. The younger woman used both arms to force herself up in a move that, while efficient, looked extremely painful. She clenched her jaw as she turned her body so she was sitting upright and facing ahead. When she moved, the blanket covering most of her body had slipped, and Joey almost fell backwards at the sight. She knew it wouldn’t look good, but the amount of dark blue, purple, and red around Sam’s torso was beyond what she had expected. The word “WRATH” tattooed across her chest made Joey wish John was still alive just so she could beat the living hell out of him. She reached out without thinking but froze with her hand midair when she saw Sam’s muscles tense.

Sam’s eyes flitted over to Joey’s hand and then up to meet her gaze. “It’s okay,” she assured.

Joey let her hand rest on Sam’s collarbone and ghosted her fingers across the word. Sam didn’t flinch or jerk away like she usually did when being touched, and Joey found herself feeling somewhat honored by that. She could remember how long it had taken Sam to get comfortable with physical contact even when it was just the two of them in private. Granted, Joey wasn’t normally a big fan of being touched either, but that didn’t extend as much to romantic partners for her. 

_Wrath._

She wondered where John Seed’s body was, and how it looked when Sam was done with him. She wondered how long Sam took to kill him. Maybe it was wrong of her to hope he suffered, but she didn’t particularly care.

Wrapping Sam’s ribs was far from an easy task for either of them to endure. Sam had to suffer the physical pain of it, teeth gritting, vein on the side of her neck visible, and muscles straining, and Joey had to suffer the emotional pain of it, apologizing for each pull to tighten the wrapping, whispering quiet reassurances, and being weighed down by the guilt of knowing she was only adding to the woman’s pain. She didn’t even realize she was crying until Sam was reaching up to wipe the tears from her face.

“Hey,” Sam whispered. Her head tilted to the side a little like a dogs did when they didn’t understand something. “I’m okay.”

Joey laughed humorlessly. “You look like you got hit by a fucking truck, Rook.”

“Way to boost a girl's self-confidence.”

“You know what I mean,” Joey said with a roll of her eyes as she finished wrapping. She looked over her own handiwork for a moment. “Not too tight, right? Like it’s tight but not uncomfortable?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m good.”

“Okay, let’s get you to the spare room.”

Sam didn’t have the energy to argue; Joey would win in the end anyway. She allowed Joey to wrap an arm around her waist carefully and lead her to the room Mary May had offered months ago that Sam had never accepted. Joey pulled the blankets back and eased Sam down onto the edge of the mattress.

“Don’t move. Give me just a minute.” And then Joey disappeared. Sam looked around awkwardly, entirely unsure what to do. She didn’t have to think about it for too long, though, because Joey came back through the door just moments later with a glass of water in hand. She handed it to Sam and then held out her other hand.

“Joey-”

“Do not start with me. You’re taking the pills so you can get a full night of sleep without waking up in pain.”

“This is not necessary.”

“If you don’t take them willingly I will pin you down and make you.”

Sam’s eyebrows shot up and a stupid grin stretched across her face. “Is that a promise?”

“Sam.” Joey rolled her eyes. “Please. I don’t want you to be in pain all night.”

“Okay,” Sam whispered, taking the two pills from Joey’s palm and swallowing them quickly. She tilted her head at the woman standing beside her and smiled. “Better?”

“Much.” Joey guided Sam to lay down with a gentle hand on her shoulder. She was about to pull back when she realized how close their faces were. She hesitated for a moment, knowing what she wanted to do but unsure if it would hurt the junior deputy. Sam didn’t seem to share the same concern as she found the strength to lean up and meet Joey’s lips with her own. It was soft and short but everything either of them needed. A drop of water in the Sahara.

“Are you staying?” Sam whispered. Joey could see the glint in her eyes. She had asked a question when she wanted to plead.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Joey replied.

“You won’t.”

The two women held each other’s gaze, having a silent conversation of sorts, before Joey gave in. She reached up to take her hair out of the braid for the first time in, well, she didn’t want to think about that. Sam gestured lazily in the direction of the living room.

“I have a bag I keep in there for when Mary May forces me to stop and rest for a bit. If you want, there’s some clothes you’re welcome to in it.” Joey jogged into there quickly and came back with the bag in hand. She shut the door and began pulling her deputy shirt off and then the solid black shirt she wore under it off, too. Sam averted her gaze.

“Nothing you haven’t seen before, baby.”

Sam blushed wildly. “That’s not fair. That is so not fair and you know it.”

“How so?” Joey asked innocently while unbuttoning and taking off her jeans.

“I’m fucking broken. And you are teasing me.” Joey pulled a light grey Marine Corps sweatshirt on and moved to slide into the bed. She curled up next to Sam and carefully stretched an arm across her body, making sure not to put too much pressure on her ribs..

“I’m sorry.” She placed a small kiss to the taller woman’s shoulder. “I’ll make it up to you when you’re feeling better.”

Joey was expecting some kind of retort from Sam, but all she heard was a hum of acknowledgement. She reached up to rest her hand on the bruised side of Sam’s jaw and gently guided her to look at her. She thanked God for how bright the moon was outside because the slightly confused and entirely enamored look on Sam’s face was priceless.

“You feelin’ good there, Rook?”

“I think so.”

Joey laughed. “I did not expect those pain meds to hit you that quick.” The confusion on Sam’s face grew.

“I’m not in pain.”

Joey smiled and placed a quick kiss to the corner of her mouth. She would give anything for that statement to always be true for Sam.

“Good,” she whispered. “Go to sleep. You need to rest, okay?”

"Mmkay," Sam mumbled, already closing her eyes and letting the medication do its thing. Joey tucked her face into Sam's neck and closed her own eyes. Her last thought before drifting off was how grateful she was to finally be home.

\---

Sam found herself waking up far too early in the morning for her own liking. A glance at the clock on the wall told her it was 5:47 am. She huffed in frustration and closed her eyes, willing herself to relax back into Joey’s arms and go back to sleep, but the sudden sound of static cracking from her bag stopped her.

 _“Deputy, it’s… It’s Faith. I need help.”_ Sam’s brow furrowed in confusion. _“I’m lost and I’m scared and- if you’re listening just… please pick up.”_

Sam carefully moved Joey’s arm from her body and slid away from the woman next to her. She had never been more grateful that her partner was a heavy sleeper. When she was sure she hadn’t woken her, Sam shoved every feeling of pain to the back of her mind and got up to get her radio.

“What’s wrong, Faith?”

 _“Joseph. He- I don’t have the book and- and the statue- he was angry and-”_ Faith’s voice cracked. _“He made me walk back, but I don’t know how to get home.”_

Sam rubbed the back of her neck anxiously as she glanced over at Joey’s sleeping form. Mary May was a much lighter sleeper than Joey. If Sam tried to go out the apartment door there was a good chance she would get caught, but… She glanced at the window.

“Where are you right now?”

 _“Um, somewhere between The Father’s Compound and Angel’s Peak. I think I took a wrong turn because I’m on a long dirt road.”_ It wasn’t much of a description, but Sam was sure she could find her with a little help. Boomer was staying with Grace for the time being, but Peaches had a tendency to climb into the bed of Sam’s truck and sleep there.

“Okay, I’m coming to get you. Stay where you are, alright? It shouldn’t take more than five or ten minutes for me to get there. If you need anything I’ll have my radio on me and will answer.” She whispered.

 _“Okay.”_ Faith paused. _“Thank you, Deputy.”_

Sam spared another glance at Joey and pulled on a black and grey flannel from in her bag. She had to fight her own body to do it, but eventually she got her boots on. She shook her head at herself as she unlocked and opened the window. Joey was so going to kill her, but she couldn’t leave Faith out there to get eaten by a bear or run down by a moose or killed by a patrolling resistance member. She climbed out the window and onto the awning of the Spread Eagle before hopping down to the ground. She landed on her feet easily, but the heavy impact hurt like hell and forced her to bite back a loud groan. She walked to her truck parked behind the building. Peaches popped her head up at her and mewled.

“Come on, hop up front,” Sam told her as she climbed into the driver’s seat. Jerome had left her keys in the car and kept it unlocked like he said he would. She turned the key in the ignition and prayed that the sound wouldn’t wake up Joey, Mary May, or anyone in Fall’s End who would be brave enough to rat her out. As she pulled out onto the road to make her way to the Henbane she turned to Peaches with a grimace. “You’ll protect me when Joey tries to kill me, right?”


End file.
